Sewline is not the only small business having to look outside Canada for workers. In 2012, Alberta had the highest number of temporary foreign workers in the country, (84,465) with about 43 per cent working in businesses with five to 49 employees.
"It's easy to find hands, but it's not easy to find people who have the qualifications to be left unsupervised," says Kevin Brooks, president of Design Flooring Centre in Medicine Hat. Brooks now employs five foreign workers.
TFWs can stay in Canada for a maximum of four years. Following this, they can apply to become permanent residents or they are required to return to their original country. However, after two years the employer must renew the LMO, justifying that they need the worker to stay.
"We cross our fingers and hope they can stay. By two years you've got a person in a position where you can't afford to lose them and they can't afford to leave. They become part of our social network and family so it's kind of scary," Brooks says. Some of his workers even control and run parts of his business so to lose their talents and experience would be devastating to his business.
"You want to hire them and have them stay on, that's your dream with any employee."
Brooks says he needs their skills now, instead of spending two years training someone new.
"We don't cross train immigrants, we cross train Canadians. These guys love to teach and it's been a real benefit. There's a lot of fear that we're going to lose jobs to people overseas and in some cases that's probably correct, but when there's a deficit of 100,000 trades there is nothing to lose. If we don't do it we'll lose."
Brooks' employee, Richard Wood, 44, is from the Pacific Northwest in the United States.
"I first visited Alberta in 1993 to meet my wife's father. I had been trying to convince her to come back ever since," Wood laughs.
He had owned a small business near Seattle, and when the U.S. economy took a hit, Wood began sending out his resume, landing him at Design Flooring. So he closed down his business and moved north. Wood is currently working on getting his permanent residency.
"I'm kinda proud to be a part of Canada. They're in a place right now where they're allowed to be picky with who they let in, so I feel some pride to be let in," Wood says.
Sharps agrees the unemployment rate is so low that they are having to draw from other resources. She says she only works with employers that she knows are ethical and require these workers to stay in business.
"There's good and bad to the system, just don't abuse it." ■
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Kevin Brooks, president of Design Flooring Centre in Medicine Hat, says that having temporary foreign workers has been a positive experience for his business.
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Stephen Webber, originally from Jamaica, works at Sewline Upholstery. Sewline is a business in Medicine Hat which employs temporary foreign workers.
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